CONTEXT
Clinicians have observed various patterns of functional decline at the end of life, but few empirical data have tested these patterns in large populations.
OBJECTIVE
To determine if functional decline differs among 4 types of illness trajectories: sudden death, cancer death, death from organ failure, and frailty.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
Cohort analysis of data from 4 US regions in the prospective, longitudinal Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the… CONTINUE READING